I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: June 10, 2018] David Wax Museum

Our whole family saw David Wax Museum play at XPNFest a few years ago.  They were great (and were very friendly afterwards).  We knew we wanted to see them again, so when we saw that they were playing this tiny venue at SteelStacks (and that admission was FREE), we couldn’t pass it up.  The fact that it also coincided with the Food Truck Border Brawl (in which food trucks from NJ and PA battle for most popular dish) did not hurt!

The weather sure did though.  It was rainy and a but chilly.  Not ideal food truck weather.  So, rather than making a day of it, we drove down for dinner.  We enjoyed our food truck food and then headed inside for the show.  I think it was supposed to be outside, but they wisely moved this show inside to be incredibly intimate.

It was also fun to have the kids with us for this show (even if Clark chose not to sit with us and we wound up keeping them up and out pretty late–but hey it was almost summer).

The band sounded fantastic.  David Wax played guitar and charango and Suz Slezak played violin and keyboard and accordion.  I have to admit I was bummed that she did not play the quijada (donkey jawbone–certainly one of the cooler instruments I’ve seen).  She had injured her tendon the night before and it made it hard to hold the instrument.  Bummer!

They played through about 90 minutes worth of music and the whole bands sounded great.

Whether it was the lead guitarist (I heard names of musicians, but can;t find them anywhere to confirm) doing some rocking solos, or the upright bassist showing of his chops a bit or the drummer keeping things steady, the band sounded perfect.

It was more fun watching Suz do a dance on the stomp box while playing violin and David himself switching back and forth between guitar and charango and singing in English and Spanish on “Yes Maria Yes.” and so much more.

They played some pretty, sweet songs like this new one.

David and Suz did a short interlude where just the two of them sang and played.  They did a beautiful duet on “Wondrous Love” with Suz strumming the violin and “Lavender Street.”

They also had a lot of fun with songs from their new EP A La Rumba Rumba (“a colorful exploration of the Latin American folk music that has inspired us over the years”).

They also played a fun new song with a little synthesizer thing that reminded me of the one that Darlingside had just bought and used on their tour.  It added a new texture to their mostly acoustic music.

This new song had a familiar sounding melody on violin, it was mesmerizing.

We were a little worried that they wouldn’t play Guesthouse (our  favorite song of theirs) but they saved it for an excellent full-bodied ending.

They told some fun stories and some sweet stories.  There was a nice story about fans of theirs bartering for tickets (a friend who gave them cured meat whom they wound up playing a personal show for).  And also the woman who made then the beautiful vests they were wearing.

They are extremely personable and friendly (obviously).  They took time to hang out after the show.  So we got to chat with them.  They signed out poster and Tabby was able to talk to both David And Suz.  They are the nicest folks around.  And they do everything DIY, music, merch, booking, the whole shebang.

Definitely check them out if you get a chance, and support them with a cool barter!

One of the great things about this show and the timing of it was that we were able to watch night descend on Steelstacks as the evening wore on.  The show started out gray to be sure, but the windows let in plenty of light as the set began.  Then slowly the windows turned blue and then black as the lights of the SteelStacks were lit up.